Thursday, August 29, 2013

Here's a song about a specific team, the Atlanta Roller Girls. It's great video and a great song. It's by a band called Tricksy and is pretty much a love letter to both the sport and the specific team. There's some great footage here of the team playing, and the video actually tells a good story. I forgot that music video promotions could do that.

Monday, August 26, 2013

Saturday August 24th the San Diego Roller Derby Comettes hosted the Dirt City Roller Rats. This was the Comettes third bout of the years and the first one they headlined. The team was 10 players strong, due to injuries taking out some of the girls, and I think there four or five who had never been in a bout before.

They had all be working hard and training hard to get the rules down and play together as a team. Definitely could tell they had bonded as a team.

Dirt City probably had some more experience overall than the Comettes, but both teams played with equal heart and passion.

Friday, August 23, 2013

I was just informed by the illustrious and enjoyer of Godzilla movies Sally Smith that I need a bit of a bio for Roller Addict. That makes sense, but I certainly hadn't been thinking about it. Some people might think I can easily write about myself, but that's not always the case. So here goes:

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

I don't have a specific roller derby tattoo. I've got a few ideas in mind, but I want to make sure it's the exactly right one for me. I've had a couple offers from people to design me one, which I am looking into as well. All I know is that it will be cool. Doesn't have to be the ultimate roller derby tattoo, just has to be mine. Oddly enough, it probably won't be a referee tattoo. Strange. I was surprised at how many derby girls had tattoos when I first started, which is weird since I essentially discovered roller derby because of the tattoo show "L.A. Ink". That story has been recounted elsewhere. I'm always kind of surprised by my naivete` in such matters.

Friday, August 16, 2013

Zombiegoat was originally my online handle when playing competitive
first-person shooters back in the mid-90's when I should have been
studying in college. Quake was just too much fun, though. When
the time came to pick a derby name, it was like stepping into an old
pair of shoes. I took the number 213 for my home bouts because it's a
song by Slayer, and 239 for WFTDA competition because it's the isotope
of plutonium that is used in nuclear weapons. These were the closest
things I could find numerically that related to zombies.

How did you get into derby?

My wife joined
the league after a friend's bachelorette party, and I was advised that
if I didn't find a slot for myself, I would very soon get to find out
what the phrase "derby widow" meant. Plus I was overweight, missing
sports ever since a bad skateboarding injury and suffering from social
anxiety, so this seemed like a good way to kill several birds with one
roller skate-shaped stone.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

If you see your cat doing this after smelling your pads, it's probably a good sign that they need to be washed. Maybe even twice. It seems like these are always the last things players and refs think about washing on a regular basis. I'm just as guilty as anyone. Some of it's not knowing how to care for the gear, I'll admit that. No one told me anything when I started, so I just let 'em dry like that. I didn't know what cycle to wash them on or how often or what kind of detergent to use or if drying them in the dryer was a good idea. All this I learned by trial and smelly error.

Monday, August 12, 2013

So last night I was approached by the lovely and possessor of great movie taste Sally Smith to contribute columns to Roller Addict. That's two now- the wonderful folks at IDOO have me contributing to their facebook page now, which is quite an honor. They are great people and are doing wonderful things for Roller Derby Referees. I'm flattered they thought enough of this blog to want me to repost it over there. Expect a more detailed post about them in the near future.

Friday, August 9, 2013

Here's a small excerpt from the the upcoming book. It's from the first draft, so there will be more to it when it's published. I believe it's called a "teaser" in the some circles...

I
am a massage therapist. Over the four years I've been reffing I've
helped out a skater or two. I have developed a set of bodywork
techniques that include massage, stretches, acupressure, tui na and
energy work. This can be done without a massage table or a massage
chair, which makes it easier to do at a moments notice. Massage
therapy is usually contraindicated for severe injuries, but it's
great to help whiplashes, contracted muscles and headaches.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

The book is progressing along nicely. I've written over 8,000 words already, and that translates into about 19 pages. This is all without any pictures. I'm still working on trying to edit them properly, like the one of Sugar Britches and me to the left. I can't quite figure out how to make it just the picture without the white border. I'm hoping some kind soul will help me out with this issue.

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Anyway, it happened yesterday, and it was a lot of fun. I was Head Reffing over in Rink 2, where the scrimmages were being played. Rink 1 had actual challenge bouts, and it was the more popular rink, as the vendors and spectators proved.

That was fine with me. The first 30 minute scrimmage we did was with fresh meat. They are fun to ref for because they play with all the passion of new players. That makes it a lot of fun. They also don't know all the rules, and that makes it challenging for the refs, which is good for us.

Saturday, August 3, 2013

... isn't that Mickey's job? Guess she abdicated by moving far far away recently. It's too bad, since they are running two rinks this year. Smart though, since it's such a popular event. This way more people will get to play. I had a feeling this would happen after seeing all the people show up last year.

I went to NollerCon last year, before I started this blog. I had a great time and it was so much fun. This year it's in Corona, where I've been a time or two as well. Looks like it will be an even larger event, though many of the people that I met last year are at RollerCon this year- Litl Rampage, Joz, Roswell Crash and Recklessly Smitten over there in the picture. I wonder if I'll meet as many cool people this year.

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Here's the video of the month, maybe. It's a swell rocking tune by 900 Pound Gorilla, and they have a definite sense of humor in the video. I seem to remember when music videos were fun and not "meaningful". I think I rather like the smaller productions, anyway.